Shades-in-the-Shadow
Shades-in-the-Shadow, also known simply as Shades, is an Argonian mercenary, an assassin for hire, and an information broker regarding all things illegal in the Mundus Galaxy's. As an expert on the things going on in the seedy underbelly of the criminal world, he has made himself plenty of contacts and/or enemies. He is currently on death row for crimes "far too numerous to list" and holds the world record in number of times incarcerated, sentenced to death, but escaping the death penalty. Biography As a child born under the sign of the Shadow, Shades was given to the Shadowscale Temple where he underwent training to serve his homeworld. However, as soon as his training was complete, Shades instead joined forces with the notorious Dark Brotherhood, earning him the contempt of his fellow kinsmen. The reason for this is unknown, as Shades has never revealed his decision. As an initiate of the Dark Brotherhood, Shades earned himself the reputation of being a thorough and efficient, yet impulsive assassin. Though he never failed to complete a contract, his brash methods nearly got himself and his current companion killed in the process. He was generally regarded as reckless, yet a fiercely loyal and reliable member among their assassins. Due to his spontaneous and often dangerous methods of swiftly approaching his intended target, there were more than one accident that eventually cost Shades parts of his own body, forcing him to replace body parts with cybernetics. As time went on, Shades would eventually climb further up the ranks of the Dark Brotherhood, eventually landing him the position of Finger and ultimately the Listener himself. As the Listener, Shades would strangely enough ignore some contracts, seemingly following an agenda of his own.This caused some concern among disgruntled contractors and members alike, as the Listener is supposed to remain unbiased in their position. Though they let him be held to do as he pleased, as long as it didn't bring the Brotherhood any dishonor. Until the day finally came when a contractor enlisted the Brotherhood's help to avenge a fallen family member to one of the Brotherhood's own. Shades accepted the contract, much to the chagrin of his own subordinates. And not long thereafter there was a conspiracy among the higher-ranked members of the Dark Brotherhood, to have the Listener removed from his position, by lethal force if need be. Confronted in the Sanctuary on Cyrodiil, Shades was surrounded by enemies, former comrades-in-arms. The battle was hard-fought and resulted in Shades having both of his legs cut off below the kneecaps, as well as having his entire right arm blown off at point-blank range. An EE-based blade sliced up the majority of his spinal column as well as pierced his right lung. Despite the ruthless and brutal assault, Shades somehow survived and got away alive. Underground engineers managed to restore some parts of his body, upgrading others. Since the betrayal, Shades is wary of new encounters, and suspects most other criminals he meets to have some sort of connection with the order he formerly ran. From that point onward, he steered clear of Dark Brotherhood affiliations, and began to run his own business as a private assassin and hitman. Though his past would eventually catch up to him, resulting in constant captures by the White-Gold Tower Station law enforcement, and numerous jailbreaks. He has escaped his own death sentence enough times to the point where he has landed on a list reserved for the galaxy's most wanted. Every successful jailbreak has cost him yet another part of his body that he has replaced with cybernetics. People usually refer to him as "more machine than man" due to his numerous prosthetic body parts and upgrades. Currently he is incarcerated at Labyrinthian Station just outside Skyrim in Empire space, where he is begrudgingly planning a most gruesome vengeance against his former comrades. Personality Shades is an imposing and threatening individual. He is boastful, scheming, and thoroughly unscrupulous, having no qualms about killing in cold blood. He is primarily looking out for himself. He will however remain loyal to a contractor as long as there is profit to be made, and as long as the end goal benefits him. He has a sadistic mindset and enjoys tormenting people he dislikes, as well as ruthlessly mocking fallen enemies. Despite this, he does treasure the few friends he has. He has a long history of romances across several homeworlds, and genuinely fears having to encounter past lovers again, even more so than having to fight former comrades-in-arms from the Dark Brotherhood. His personal interests include drinking, gambling, and upgrading the technology he already has. Equipment and abilities Shades' ace-in-the-sleeve is primarily composed of his wide variety of cybernetic prosthetics. His synthetic left eye has been modified to provide him with a myriad of different visual modes to help him in his assassination endeavors, such as night vision, and being able to see through certain materials within a set range. A good chunk of the back of his head was lost in a grenade explosion and repaired with a hard drive, as well as an internal radio for communications and eavesdropping. His left forearm is equipped with a hidden cannon, which reveals itself with a click of a button, lowering his fake hand like a hatch. The fingertips are linked to a basic Mauler-module, allowing him to sap EE-based equipment and store it within his own body. His entire right arm and shoulder is composed of a very strong, yet extremely flexible alloy which he uses to grapple opponents with or to simply ward them off with an increase of physical strength by tapping into his own EE-reserves. Though he only lost one lung in his final confrontation with the members of the Dark Brotherhood, Shades ultimately decided to replace them both with a pair of artificial ones to improve his endurance, donating the functional one. His entire tail was removed and replaced with a PinCER, also known as "smart claw", an extra appendage which allows him to perfectly balance, as well as hang from high places, even serving as a grappling hook and an extra blade weapon. His two legs have been replaced with a pair of robotic prosthetics that improves his acrobatic skills, and running speed. They also carry a set of hidden blades right underneath the heel. Though Shades has an implant, he isn't necessarily fond of using Elder Effect, and relies more on his own assassination skills and cybernetic upgrades to ward off his foes. He carries a set of Savirien-Chorak Mk. III Katanas, EE-based assassination blades able to slice through most un-shielded armors with ease. Category:Characters Category:Males Category:Argonians Category:Cyborgs Category:Assassins Category:Mercenaries